


Neverland

by fishfingersandjellybabies



Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: Gen, Peter Pan AU, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-20
Updated: 2016-02-20
Packaged: 2018-05-22 06:30:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6068773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fishfingersandjellybabies/pseuds/fishfingersandjellybabies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Damian was was lost, in a sense, and never thought he’d be found, let alone on an island beyond the second star to the right.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Neverland

**Author's Note:**

> Based on the song ‘Lost Boy’ by Ruth B. It’s so good and sweet, and reminded me perfectly, in a metaphorical sense, about Dick and Damian, and Damian’s struggles, so here you go. A Peter Pan-esque AU/series/thing. Obviously I took liberties with the Peter Pan canon, as everyone does, so. Yanno. Listen to that song, for real. It’s so good and so descriptive for lil baby.

He didn’t want to go. He only went because his brothers did, for some reason he could _not_ figure out, and needed to protect them. Protect them so, when they _did_ come home, he could tell Father _exactly_ how naughty his siblings had been.

The man didn’t even look trustworthy. But how could he? He appeared in their bloody _window_ for goodness’ sake! Their window on the _fourth floor_ of this sprawling house he was still getting used to. The house so large, so _intimidating_ , he agreed quite quickly when Pennyworth suggested he roomed with Todd and Drake, until he got used to it.

He couldn’t really even be called a man, though, could he? A teenager, perhaps. Seventeen or eighteen. Nineteen at the absolute _most_. His dark hair was a mess, his blue-and-yellow uniform _horrendously_ gaudy, and his smile too big, too _bright_ , to be real.

But he was there. Suddenly, surprisingly. One second, Todd was standing protectively in front of he and Drake, and the next, this man, this _teenager_ , was stepping into their bedroom like an old friend, rambling about…about _pixie dust_ , and _flying_.

 _Neverland_ , he’d said. That’s where he was taking them, if they so wished to go. He’d seen them from afar, and it looked like they needed a break. A vacation. A friend.

It felt like Damian only blinked, and the teenager – “Call me Dick. Dick Grayson.” He’d requested – was instantly crouching in front of him, hand above his head, sprinkling something into his hair, saying simply:

“Trust me.” A grin, as they locked eyes. Grayson suddenly ruffled his hair, and Damian was swarmed in a cloud of that dust. “I won’t let you fall.”

And he hadn’t. He gave them instructions – and, oddly, _directions_ – and watched as Todd and Drake did just that. Jumped out the window like lunatics, before following suit.

He waited there, though. As Damian’s brothers tested out their newfound abilities. Spinning in circles, hooting and hollering. Grayson stayed at the window, smiling as Damian treaded cautiously out onto the ledge. Even held out his hand, offered to hold Damian’s the whole way, if the little boy wanted.

Damian _didn’t_ want it. He didn’t want _anything_. He didn’t even want to _go_.

(He wanted to go _home_. Back to his mother, and to Ravi. To his grandfather and Goliath and the compound-)

He jumped anyway.

The flying was…wonderful. Amazing, everything anyone had ever _dreamed_ about flying. He did loops and zigzags. Burst through clouds and chased birds. _Laughed_.

He hadn’t laughed since he came to live with his father.

And Grayson stayed at his side, throughout. Didn’t let him fall, just like he promised. Kept his eye on all three of them, made sure they were okay and happy and not too cold up here in the atmosphere, gave them  more directions when they started to veer too far to the left, or were going to miss that second star on the right.

Neverland was an island, it seemed. A very inhabited one. A sect of people, beautiful foliage, lots of animals. _More_ children, that this Grayson had apparently stolen away.

 _The Lost Boys_ , they called themselves, Grayson said. Silly, since most of their little ragtag gang were girls. _They_ , those girls confided in Damian that first evening, much rather called themselves _Titans_.

Damian liked that name better.

The Titans were nice. Kind. Friendly. But Damian still found himself alone more often than not. Todd and Drake were having the time of their lives. Running and adventuring, not having a care in the world. Not bothering to look out for the kid brother they never wanted.

But Grayson.

Dick Grayson _never_ left him alone. Would pop out of a tree, swing down on a vine, fly up behind him. Get in his face. Ask what he was doing. Ask if he wanted to do something with _him_. Say he needed a partner, and that little flying creature Koriand’r could only help him so much.

Damian ignored him at first, but finally got so fed up – because Grayson just wouldn’t _drop it_ – that he agreed. Agreed to go on some stupid escapade with this stupid leader in the stupid blue and yellow.

And it was… _great_.

They fought Captain Wilson, the one-eyed pirate, who had a killer grudge against Grayson – apparently because it was Grayson who caused him to lose that eye. Snuck onto his ship in the lagoon to rescue a friend from the local people – a Miss Barbara, who may or may not have had a crush on the daring young Grayson.

The mission went without a hitch, surprisingly. Damian and Grayson worked in a sync that couldn’t be matched. Even Miss Barbara had to admit she was impressed.

And Damian hadn’t realized while it was happening, but later, after a twinkling scolding from Kory, and a firm, but worried, lecture from Todd _and_ Drake, at the ‘family meal’ as Grayson called it, the man plopped down next to him, and bumped his shoulder.

“Did you have fun today?” He asked tentatively. Quietly, under the sound of the Lost Titans chowing down.

Damian had shrugged. “It was okay. Why?”

Grayson pursed his lips. “Because you were _smiling_.” Damian froze in his movements. “And I haven’t seen you smile since you got here.”

And Damian…well, he couldn’t quite refute the statement.

Grayson didn’t need him to, though. Just smiled himself as he leaned down and whispered, “Wanna do it again tomorrow?”

Damian’s grin was answer enough.

And…that’s how it happened. Suddenly, Damian went from being alone constantly to being at Grayson’s side, _always_. Being his partner, his second in command, his _brother_ , and being _happy_ about it.

And knowing Grayson was happy about it too.

His actual brothers got jealous. The Titans did too. But there was nothing they could do about it. No one understood Damian like Grayson did, just as, apparently, no one had ever seen the true Dick Grayson until Damian came along either.  

So it was good. Great, _wonderful_. Damian saw the value of Neverland, then. Of never growing up, of staying with this group, with these people, with his _family_. Wanted to stay forever, just like Grayson had offered at their first meeting.

But suddenly – his brothers didn’t.

“We just…” Todd sighed, staring out into the lagoon’s waters, at the golden setting sun. “I don’t know, kid. It’s been fun, here. All this time. _Loads_ of fun. _Awesome_.”

“Then what’s the problem?!” Damian had hissed, fighting back the tears in his eyes. “ _You_ wanted to stay forever too, if I recall. You said so when Grayson taught you how to fly!”

Jason shrugged again. Sheepish. Nervous. Guilty.

“I mean,” Tim chimed in quietly. “You’ve gotta grow up sometime, you know?”

No, Damian didn’t know. Didn’t ever _want_ to know.

And regardless of what Damian wanted, the next morning, Todd had told their hosts their decision, and if Grayson would be so kind as to take them back to Gotham, please.

Grayson didn’t fight them. Didn’t make a speech. Didn’t _smile_. Just nodded and told them to be on the beach by noon.

They were, and he did as he was requested. He gave them more of that pixie dust, and flew with them back to Gotham City.

And it wasn’t…he doesn’t know. It wasn’t a decision he made. A choice he consciously thought through. As they landed on their windowsill, realized that absolutely _no_ time had passed between when they left and returned, despite the months they experienced, he realized.

He didn’t want this.

He didn’t want this big empty house. He didn’t want _this_ family, however better off they were. He didn’t want the fame and the riches and whatever else came with being Bruce Wayne’s biological son.

He didn’t even want to go back to his _mother_.

He just wanted to stay with Grayson.

And the timing for this realization probably couldn’t have been worse. Grayson was already flying away when he spun towards the window, eager to tell his friend, his _true_ brother, his epiphany.

It didn’t stop him, though, and he ran for that sill anyway. Ignored Drake’s shout, and Todd’s grabbing hands. Jumped out that window without a care in the world. Fell, of course, instantly. That’s what happens with no pixie dust. That’s what happens to normal ten year olds.

But, just as instantly, he was caught. By two strong arms. Held tightly and carefully and preciously. Clung right back, hid his face in the gaudy costume covering that throat. And under the terrified shouts of Todd from the window, whispered:

“I want to stay with you, Grayson.”

He sensed more than saw or felt the other’s smile. But knew it was there, by the way Grayson squeezed him tighter, dared to kiss at his temple and linger there. Whispered his own, even quieter:

“I want you to stay with me too, kiddo.”

They floated slowly back up the window, and Damian glanced nervously back at his brothers. Neither of them looked angry. Resigned, if anything. _Knowing_.

“…Just visit sometimes, would you?” Tim asked, leaning against the sill with an eye roll. Damian nodded in promise.

“Take care of him.” Todd demanded, leaning out the window and pointing harshly at Grayson. “Or _else_.”

Grayson smiled, nodded his own vow and dropped his cheek against Damian’s hair, gently floating higher and away from the mansion.

Damian remained in his arms, continued to clutch at Grayson’s neck. Relished in the wind on his face. The safety in the embrace. The warmth in his chest.

It was after they passed that second star, swerving widely around it, that Damian asked, “Grayson?”

“Hm?”

“ _Will_ we have to grow up eventually?”

Grayson paused. “Eventually, yeah. I guess.”

Damian gulped. Squeezed the fabric of that ugly uniform between his fingers. “Can I still stay with you? Even when that happens?”

Grayson looked down at him, then laughed, and placed his hand on the back of Damian’s head as they started their descent back into Neverland. Already, Damian could hear the gleeful shouts of Donna and the other Titans, welcoming them home.

“Always.”

And when they landed on the beach, when Grayson placed him gently in the sand, and kept an arm around his shoulders even as the others came running towards them, when Grayson stared down at him like he was _proud_ , like he was _happy_ Damian was _there_ …Damian could only lean into his side, and grin just as brightly up at him, too.

“Good.”


End file.
